Last year, 87% of Latin American companies experienced cyber security breaches. The economic loss of these attacks was $ 1 million or more than 6 3% of the affected companies.

The data comes from a 2022 Cybersecurity Skills Report conducted by Fortinet, for which more than 1,200 IT and cybersecurity decision makers were surveyed. In 29 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.

According to data collected in Latin America, 70% of companies said they had experienced one to four security breaches in the past 12 months, while 17% said they had experienced more than five. This cost their business up to $ 1 million (for 37% of respondents) and over $ 1 million (26%).

A lack of cyber security skills increases the risk Cybernetic Organizations. In countries in the region, 89% of organizations noted that their board of directors specifically asks questions about what the company is doing to address the growth of cyberattacks. ი 80% of respondents said the council is trying to increase the number of IT and cybersecurity staff.

In this regard, it should be noted that experts in this field are lacking. According to the 2021 Cyber ​​Workforce Report (ISC) 2, The global cyber security workforce needs to grow by 65% Effectively protect the critical assets of organizations.

While the global number of professionals needed to fill this gap has shrunk from 3.12 million to 2.72 million last year, it remains a significant gap that leaves companies vulnerable. In Latin America alone, 701,000 cyber security professionals are missingAccording to this report.

In this sense, training is an essential strategy to address the problem of skills shortages. A) Yes, 77% of leaders prefer to hire people with certificationsBut 88% say it’s hard to find these differential professionals.

So 95% of respondents say they are willing to pay an employee to get cybersecurity certifications. One of the main reasons companies value certifications is to raise awareness and perform tasks more efficiently.

As for the general staff, 52% of leaders believe that their employees do not have the necessary knowledge about cyber security. It is essential for companies to conduct training for all sectors to avoid risks and disruptions. This is important because attackers often follow the weakest link in organizations and these are employees who are unaware of the cyber security risks to which they are exposed.

Besides, The industry is betting on diversity in order to have teams that can contain the growing landscape of cyber threats. The report found that 64% of leaders in Latin America admit that their organization finds it difficult to hire, while 48% find it difficult to retain talent.

The most difficult positions to hire are Cloud Security specialists (40%) and SOC and DevSecOps analysts (tied 37%).

Organizations are trying to create more capable and diverse teams, which is why 93% of companies in Latin America have clear diversity goals for the next two to three years as part of their hiring strategy.. The report also showed that 80% of organizations have formal structures to specifically hire more women.

Continue reading: